


stake me out tonight

by littlesciencebabies (readaholic2200)



Series: Tumblr Prompts [7]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Heart-to-Heart, Late Night Conversations, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stakeout, World War II flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 12:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3410387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readaholic2200/pseuds/littlesciencebabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy and Daniel are assigned to do a 48-hour stakeout together. What they didn't know was that it would end up with them bonding more than they ever had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stake me out tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted on tumblr "peggy + daniel 48 hour stakeout", and it didn't really end up being much of a stakeout, more of an emotional bonding session with lots and lots of Daniel's backstory.
> 
> Title comes from the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode "Stakeout" because that's literally all I could think of while writing this fic.

“It’s just a mission, Daniel, just a mission with a colleague—who you happen to _like_ —no, get that out of your head. It’s a mission with a colleague for 48 hours in a confined space. No worries. You got this.”

Daniel was currently preparing (more like freaking out) for his upcoming mission. The SSR’s new chief had assigned both him and Agent Carter on a mission to stake out a suspect in a supposed mass arms deal. The only problem was that they would both be staying in an apartment directly across from the suspected drop spot for 48 hours _alone_.

Now, him and Peggy were friends. Hell, at this point, he’d even consider best friends. They ate lunch together, spent a lot of free time together, she’d even formally introduced her to her friend Angie since the last time they had met was not under the best of circumstances.

After a few months of awkwardness, Daniel and Peggy finally decided to start and try to become friends again. It was a slow process, but at the end, it was worth it because they were able to trust each other completely. They were friends. _Just friends_.

Daniel had long since gotten over his silly crush on her. He also had taken her advice and realized that he in fact _was_ putting her on a pedestal, and as quick as he could, took her off of it. He knew that if they were to be friends again, they had to see each other on the same level, no one higher than the other.

And that’s what they were. _Friends._

But then something happened.

It wasn’t even something major. They were just eating lunch at the L&L Diner, nothing major, something they did regularly. He was telling her a story about something _ridiculous_ Thompson said or did (or perhaps it was both; Thompson was always doing something stupid), and as always, he cracked a joke. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.

And Peggy laughed. Like full-body, head thrown back, knee slapping laughter. She even _snorted_. Daniel didn’t really think his joke was all that funny—maybe chuckling laughter and a small smile worth, but nothing like what Peggy did.

He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. _That_ was exactly where he knew he was screwed.

And that was why he was giving himself a peptalk to his reflection. Because he realized that he may _like_ her again, and being in a relatively small space with her for 48 hours with his reborn crush for her may not bode well for their friendship.

Nevertheless, he grabbed the small bag that carried an extra change of clothes and his toiletries and left to go pick up Peggy at the SSR. Well, it was more like he was taking the bus to the SSR so he could pick up Peggy, so they could take the bus to the stakeout spot since at the moment, neither of them owned a car.

After picking up Peggy and one _very_ awkward bus ride later, they arrived at the apartment building that would be their home for the next 48 hours. It wasn’t much different than most apartment buildings in New York. It had about 15 stories, all brick, probably low rent considering some parts looked to be falling apart. Definitely not a place Daniel would like to stay, no matter how cheap the rent may be.

The apartment wasn’t much better. Incredibly small, one room, somehow even tinier bathroom. And it was filthy, like whoever lived in it last tried to make it smell nice but did nothing about the strange stains on the walls that neither Peggy nor Daniel wanted to know about.

Then, they went to work on setting up the equipment for the stakeout, which basically included two pairs of binoculars which neither would end up using, a camera in case the deal actually happened and they needed to get evidence of it, a ton of food, and a portable radio that Angie had lent Peggy a while ago and she had “forgot” to give it back.

They had arranged a setup that during the day, both of them would be watching the drop spot, then at night, one would sleep for six hours while the other watched, then they would switch.

The first day went off without a hitch. They spent all day listening to the radio, eating snack food, playing Monopoly that Daniel had brought (which ended up in quite a few pieces and fake money being thrown at each other), and semi-watching the drop spot. Luckily, no activity was happening there. Then, at around 7:00 that night, Daniel decided to take the first night watch, letting Peggy sleep in the tiny, creaky bed in the room.

As Peggy went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas, it suddenly hit Daniel. _She was changing into her pajamas._ Imagine what his mother might have said if she had found out that him and a woman were staying in the same room in _pajamas_ and they weren’t even dating. Even worse, imagine what the other agents at the office would say. Thankfully, Chief Flynn hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else besides the two of them, thinking it would be an “easy job that even a dame and a crip couldn’t mess up”. Unfortunately, Daniel had heard Chief Flynn say those words, and that just made him want to catch the bad guys even more.

When Peggy emerged from the bathroom wearing her nightgown and a robe, Daniel politely averted his eyes and pretended to be watching the drop site across the street. He briefly glanced over to where she was standing when he heard the sound of her laughter.

“You know you don’t have to look away, Daniel,” Peggy uttered between laughs. “I’m in a robe. Nothing intimate about that. Besides, you have seen me in a more compromising situation.”

At that, Daniel felt his face flush with embarrassment at the reminder of what Thompson did in that locker room.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Daniel replied. “But you know what, I think I saw something move out there, so I’m just gonna keep looking out the window.”

Peggy scoffed at him, and he could practically hear the eye roll she gave him. “Well, I’m going to bed. Wake me up at 1. Don’t forget.”

He gave her a thumbs-up while still facing the window.

Besides that one minor blip in the schedule, the first day went off without a hitch. Nothing suspicious was happening over at the drop site, they had both gotten their six hours of sleep, and were ready to face the second day.

The second morning went much like the first day: Peggy and Daniel half-paying attention to what they were supposed to be paying attention to, only really looking at it when a lot more movement happened around it. But most of the day was just them playing Monopoly (and subsequent fake money throwing because of it) and listening to the radio.

It wasn’t until that night that everything changed.

Peggy had decided that she would take the first night shift so Daniel would sleep, since it had been the opposite the previous night. Daniel had felt a little awkward the first night taking off his prosthetic in front of her, but she assured him that she had seen worse during the war. By the look on her face, he believed her. But that didn’t stop him from wearing pajama pants instead of his usual shorts that night.

That night he dreamed. It wasn't a dream though, it was a nightmare. And a bad one at that.

He dreamed of being locked in a cell with about 20 other sweaty, putrid men, not knowing how long he had been there or when they would be able to leave. He dreamed about desperate screams that could be nothing less than torture from above his cell ceiling. His brother screaming his name.

“Daniel. Daniel! _Daniel!_ ”

It wasn’t until he felt himself being shook awake that Daniel realized that it wasn’t his brother yelling for him, it was Peggy. He immediately sat straight up in the bed, heart pounding in his ears, his tank top sticking to his back with sweat. He glanced over to Peggy, who was kneeling by his bedside, concern evident in her face.

“You were screaming in your sleep,” she plainly stated. “I was afraid you’d wake the neighbors.” He could tell by the way she glanced away from him at the last sentence that it wasn’t entirely true.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“You get nightmares, too?” she inquired, her voice tiny. By that one word, “too”, and the way her expression was so distraught, Daniel could tell she was haunted by some awful nightmares. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for war veterans to have some nightmares, maybe even to the point where it haunted them during the day, but it was nice to know that someone he considered a close friend had the same troubles he did.

“Yeah,” he replied. As if that one word could count for all the restless nights those terrors had caused.

“I get them about Steve,” Peggy started, quickly meeting Daniel’s eyes as if to give him some comfort that she was there. They had never really talked about their experiences during the war, especially about Captain Rogers, seeing as it was a sensitive spot for both Peggy and Daniel.

“I don’t think anyone knows this, but... _I_ was the last person Steve talked to before he…” she continued, choking up on the last word, “died,” she managed to splutter out, and Daniel could see the tears coming to her eyes. “He was on the plane, and I was talking to him. I didn’t know what he was thinking, and the next thing I knew, he was telling me he was going to put the plane down. And--” Her voice cracked on that word. “And there was nothing I could do about it.”

Daniel saw a tear fall down her face, and he hesitantly put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn’t shrug it off.

“Hey, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” he suggested.

“No, no,” she persisted. “I _need_ to do this. To help you. I-I made a promise to myself that if I ever see someone having a nightmare, I would help them because I know I would want someone to do the same for me. Especially if it’s a bad one.” Her voice was strong, despite the sobs that cracked her voice.

Daniel motioned for her to continue and after a brief minute of Peggy catching her breath, she did.

“At least once a week, I dream about that day. When Steve...went down. And it’s always exactly the same, just as it was when it happened.” The tears started to flow more frequently, but Peggy pushed through it. “Over and over and over again. And I’m just sitting there, and I physically can’t do anything. That feeling of helplessness just running through my mind, and I _hate_ that feeling so much. It’s the worst feeling in the world, and I just feel that constantly in my nightmares. And that’s what makes them so terrifying.”

When she finished talking, Peggy looked up at Daniel, giving him a small smile before violently wiping away the wetness on her face. She grabbed his hand, moving her thumb over his knuckles, as if in a way to calm him. Daniel thought it really should be him comforting her, since she had literally just told him her worst nightmare. It only seemed fitting that he should tell her his. And hey, it might even make him feel better.

“My brother, David,” he started. Peggy nodded at him to continue, the corners of her mouth turning upwards, “was three years older than me. After my mom had him, the doctors said that she couldn’t have any more kids. But when David was two, my mom got pregnant, with me, obviously. My parents both thought I was going to end in a miscarriage or stillborn, so they were surprised when I came out, completely healthy. _Mae_ called me her _dom_ , her gift.

“And, uh, my brother loved me. Never got jealous even if _mae_ and _pai_ paid more attention to me, gave me special treatment. He was just glad to have a brother. And I loved him, too. We spent so much time together and we looked almost identical, so a lot of people thought we were twins.” Daniel allowed himself a small smile at the memories he reminisced. “They got our names mixed up so often because they sound similar -- Daniel and David -- and even _mae_ and _pai_ got them mixed up often.”

At that, both Peggy and Daniel laughed. It was brief but enough to lighten the mood.

“And then _mae_ got sick,” Daniel continued, and they could both feel the just lightened mood dropping significantly. “She had pneumonia. She fought with it for a month, but … she just couldn’t fight it any longer.” He shook his head briefly, as if trying to shake away the tears that were springing to his eyes. “But, at least she died peacefully. In her sleep, I mean. I was only 11, and David was 14.

“Just around that time, the Depression hit, both literally and figuratively. _Pai_ turned to the bottle. David practically raised me for about five years while _pai_ was out drinking with his buddies. Me and David didn’t really know what to do without _mae_ there. We got in a lot of fights. Came home more than once with a black eye or a bloody nose. I don’t even think _pai_ noticed the injuries at all, because he came home sporting a few shiners himself.

“Um yeah, I don’t know why I’m telling you my whole backstory. It doesn’t even really relate to the nightmares. Let me just move on.” Peggy gave him an encouraging smile, letting him continue.

“When I heard of the war breaking out in Europe, I enlisted for the army, because as soon as _mae_ died, I knew I wanted to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves. My two choices were to fight or to become a doctor, and I never really did well in science class, so I thought ‘Why not?’ At the time, I didn’t know that David had also enlisted, until one day he showed up at the camp I was stationed at. He was going to be part of our regiment--the 36th. At the time, I was excited, because I didn’t think we were going to be seeing any action, and I hadn’t seen him for three years.

“Later that month--I think it was January of ‘44--our commanding officer told us we were going to be shipped to France to the front lines. It was then that I was worried for both me and David, because I wouldn’t know what to do if one of us got hurt...or worse. But, anyway.” At this point, Daniel stopped to catch his breath and regain focus before continuing.

“We landed in the eastern border of France in early March. In other circumstances, it would have been beautiful. Beautiful days, even when it was raining. We even were able to relax in one of their hills one day. Very green, very beautiful. And then the next day, we had to fight. We won most of our battles. Didn’t lose many of our guys, at least as not as many as other regiments. We stayed in France through the summer and part of the fall.

“In late September, we crossed into Germany. As soon as we crossed the border, we were ambushed. They knew we were coming. I don’t know how, but they did. We tried to fight, but we just weren’t prepared. A few of our guys were killed, but the rest of us that ended up alive were kidnapped. Thankfully, David was still alive. I-I don’t know how far we went into Germany, but when we stopped, they-they--” Daniel’s voice hitched at the memory of what happened.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Peggy reassured, taking his hand. It was the first time she had spoken since Daniel had started talking. She had been listening intently the whole time. “Take your time.”

Daniel took a few deep breaths, paused for a moment, then continued. “They took us into what could only be a prison. They took us into this room that was just filled with cells filled with soldiers, all Allies. There were probably at least 20 big cells in the room, each filled with at least 30 men each, probably about 1000 men total. The rest of our regiment was shoved into a cell with about 10 other men, all French. Didn’t speak a lick of English. I could vaguely understand what they were saying since Portuguese and French are vaguely similar. They were from Nantes, and this one guy, Henri, was always talking about his wife and how he missed her. That was most of what I could understand.

“Apparently, the floor above us must have been the place where they … tortured people.” Daniel had to take a minute before continuing. Peggy’s grip on his hand tightened, and he could feel himself calming down just from that one contact. “From the screams. And we could tell whenever whoever they were torturing … had died, because the screams had stopped. Me and David just stayed by each other the whole time, we shared the food and water they shoved under our cell doors every two days. Didn’t give us much food to start off with. The cells with more guys sometimes fought over the food, one guy even died in a brawl. The Nazis--well, turns out they were actually Hydra, but it's practically the same--didn’t even pick up the body.

“We could feel the seasons change by how much colder the cells became. David and I stayed close whenever it got really cold. I figured it was probably around November when … um …” Tears sprung to his eyes. This was the worst part of the story, the part he had nightmares about.

Peggy whispered, “It’s okay. Take your time,” repeatedly, and it made Daniel feel better. He realized that this was why he liked her. She was caring, smart, brave, just all around amazing. He really did have the worst time for realizing things, didn’t he?

“One of the Nazis came in and tried to take one of the French guys upstairs. His name was Léon, and he couldn’t have been older than 16. None of his friends were standing up, trying to help him, despite them being all buddy-buddy the entire time. I looked over at David, and I could just tell by the look in his eyes that he was going to do something stupid. He-he just stood up and _volunteered_ to be tortured.” Daniel didn’t stop the tears that came to his eyes. “The last thing he said to me was ‘Be good, Danny. _Mae_ would be proud of what her _dom_ became.’”

The tears were now flowing freely down his cheeks, and he couldn’t stop a sob from escaping and wracking his body. He had only told this story twice before: a brief version to his dad who had actually sobered up for once, and the entire thing to his mother’s gravestone. He knew that he could trust Peggy now, that he could tell her everything. They were friends--best friends. And just telling her everything made him feel infinitely better.

Daniel had eventually calmed himself down enough to finish the story. “They took him upstairs, and I could hear his screams, no matter how much I tried to block it out. One of the other guys from our regiment, Evans, who was friends with David, tried to comfort me, but nothing helped. Nothing would help when you could hear your brother being tortured, screaming his lungs out, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Like you said, helplessness is the worst feeling ever, and that’s what I dream about.

“I dream about my brother’s screams, and there’s nothing I can do. I dream about the most painful week where I heard his screams, and the even more painful day when it stopped. And all I can do is sit in that cell with 20 other guys, not knowing what to do. And it’s terrible. It’s not the screaming that’s the worst part, it’s the feeling of helplessness. That’s the most terrifying.”

He takes a brief pause and looks at Peggy, tears in her eyes. He knew that she knew exactly how he felt. No matter that she felt the exact same way, she still held onto his hand, comforting _him_. And he was eternally grateful for that.

“Maybe I should finish my story,” he continued. “It actually gets kinda good here. I never actually told you this, but I met Captain Rogers.” At that, Peggy looked up at him, eyes widening in shock. Daniel couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, he kinda saved my life.”

“Really?” Peggy asked incredulously. Daniel nodded, actually smiling, which seemed almost impossible the past few minutes while he was telling his story. Peggy could do that to him.

“It was December, I found that out later. All I knew was that it was as cold as it had ever been. Everyone was huddled together for warmth. We heard some yelling from somewhere, and the guards who were stationed in the cells ran outside with their guns. We heard some gunfire, and then about a few minutes later, someone came down and opened our cells. Later, I found out it was one of the Howling Commandos, Gabe Jones.”

Peggy smiled and said, “Of course he would do that.”

“Most of us ran outside,” Daniel continued, “only to find out that a literal blizzard was outside. Snow was everywhere, couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of us. And most of us were in our summer clothes, not prepared for a blizzard. I was being pushed around in all the chaos. People just were glad to be free. They didn’t know that some Hydra agents were still out there, and no one could see them, so a lot of people were shot down immediately.

“I ran as far as I could. I hid behind some boxes for a while, freezing my ass off. I didn’t know what I was going to do, if I was going to be able to get to warmth. I figured if Hydra didn’t shoot me, I would die from hypothermia. The fight was still going on, and somehow the boxes I was hiding behind fell onto me. I didn’t realize they were heavy when I was hiding behind them, but on top of me, I figured they were holding weapons of some sort because I couldn’t move them at all. But I was able to move part of my body off of it, but … my leg.” Daniel pointed to the prosthetic laying at the bedside.

“So, I was lying in the snow, freezing, a heavy box on my leg. I thought I was going to die. I thought that it was my last moments. And then the snow stopped falling as hard, and I could see again. Most of the other prisoners had escaped, but there were a few lying dead in the snow. From what I could tell, our saviors had won; there were no more Hydra soldiers left.

“Then I saw it. The infamous shield I had heard so much about. I had even seen one of the Captain America shows back at home. No offence, but it was terrible.”

“None taken,” Peggy replied, chuckling at the memory.

“Well, Captain Rogers lifted that probably 300 pound box off me by himself. He was such a nice guy. When I told him I couldn’t walk or feel my leg, him and Sergeant Barnes helped walk me to their own truck with the other Howling Commandos. Him and Barnes were cracking jokes to help me feel better and it did. Back at the truck, they had situated me the closest to the heater and given me all their extra blankets and jackets. I was with them in that truck for the three hour drive to the nearest base with a portable hospital to take care of me and my leg. And in that drive, it made me forget about everything. I didn’t think once about David or how my leg would probably be cut off or that I may have hypothermia. I just relaxed for the first time in months.”

Daniel could see Peggy’s face broken in two with a smile, presumably about the Howling Commandos. He couldn’t help but smile because she was smiling.

“Well, you probably know the rest of the story. Amputated my leg, honorable discharge, sent back home, months of physical therapy, and now I’m here,” Daniel concluded. He glanced at the clock on the small bedside table that read 2:07am. “You should probably get to sleep. It’s late.” He started to get out of the bed and put on his prosthetic, but Peggy stopped him.

“No, no, no. I’m not tired,” she insisted. “I promise, I’m wide awake. Besides, you should probably get some more sleep. What just happened was probably exhausting, to say the least.”

She was right, but when was Peggy ever wrong? Confessing all of that emotionally drained him. Plus, those nightmare plagued six hours didn’t give him enough rest. He figured he could get a few more hours.

“Fine,” he relented. “But wake me up in a few hours. Not too long.”

Before Daniel laid back completely in bed, Peggy piped up, “Daniel, what you just did was very brave.”

Daniel opened his mouth to say that it wasn’t; he had just said some words, but Peggy stopped him.

“Before you say anything, it _was_ brave. I know personally that’s it’s hard to confess parts of the war that were difficult, and considering the amount of personal experiences you just told me was amazing. _I_ could never do that, to anyone. And what you went through, that’s enough to stop any person from doing anything ever again, but you’re still doing high-risk work with the SSR, and that’s _brave_.”

“Thanks, Peg,” he said. He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that. Sure, he was brave in some ways, but so was she, and so was everyone else in the SSR. And they all had their own war stories, some more gruesome than others, but they were still there.

Peggy stopped him from saying anything else by kissing him on the cheek. “Get some sleep, Daniel,” she said.

He laid his head back on the pillow, and Daniel couldn’t stop the blush from rising to his cheeks. She had just kissed him … on the cheek, but still.

As he fell asleep, he didn’t think that five years later, almost to the date, he would be getting married to Peggy. 

He didn’t think that as they would be lying in their bed the night after they got married, that he would thank her for being there for him that day of the stakeout.

He didn’t think that she would thank him right back for the same reason, saying that it was actually the first time she had told anyone that story of her being the last person Steve talked to, and that him just being there comforted her.

He didn’t think that every day for the rest of his life he would wake up to see Peggy lying next to him, kissing each other good morning, the sun shining in on both of them.

He didn’t think that his future would be that amazing.


End file.
